Making Homeschooling Hands-On, Engaging, Meaningful & Memorable! Be inspired by all the possibilities!! Check out our unit studies, packets and printables!
Have you heard of the Socratic Method? Could you/Do you use this method in your homeschool? Do you think it would work well with the ages and personalities of your kids?Just what is the Socratic Method? Here’s a little background: The Socratic method is one of the oldest pedagogic techniques used in the classroom. Developed by Socrates over 2,400 years ago, the strategy uses thought-provoking question and answer sessions to...
Energy Pyrmaid / Food Webs / Homeschool Den / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats / Science: Food Chains
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 17, 2018 · Last modified February 22, 2022
We have a Biology Packet that covers the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings (ie. ecology!). I have added several new activities to this packet. These include interactive notebook pages on the food chain, food web and the energy pyramid. Also, I created a new Biology Bundle of 5! Details about that are below. First, let me explain what new activities were added. In addition...
Games for Thinking and Learning / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 11, 2018
With birthdays coming up, I am often on the look-out for educational activities that might be appealing to my kids. I also grab things from time-to-time that will add some sparkle to our units. This post has a number of educational things I’ve added to our homeschool collection… puzzles, games, geography activities, science tools and more! 🙂 Critical Thinking Challenge! My kids really love this activity called Kanoodle (affiliate link)...
History: China Unit / Homeschool Den / Trips We've Taken
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published February 5, 2018 · Last modified September 5, 2022
Last week, I shared a little bit about what we’ve been doing in our homeschool, but I also mentioned that we have been on the go a lot. Pretty much right after that post went live, we headed out of town again! I wanted to share a few pictures from the amazing exhibit we went to see: Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China. It was wonderful! The Terracotta...
Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool at Home / Kindergarten / Science: Animal Characteristics / Science: Biomes; Animal Habitats
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 28, 2018 · Last modified September 23, 2023
World Animals Unit Our World Animal Packet is a 100+ page unit includes animals from every continent! It includes worksheets, Montessori 3-Part Cards, Activity Sheets for every continent, beautiful continent cards, a world animal game, world animal pin map activity, and more! I’ve just added 10 new pages to our World Animals Packet, making it over 100 pages! If your kids love animals, they are going to have fun with...
Critical Thinking Activities / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Math General Posts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published January 22, 2018 · Last modified January 21, 2018
The biggest mistake you can make is to be afraid to make one! I often love books about the brain and the latest on brain research. You probably already know about the link between exercise and learning. There are studies that show that after just twenty minutes of exercise, the brain is fired up! Read all about it in the fitness.gov article, Learning is a Moving Experience. Check out the composite...
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 10, 2017
Does your homeschool change a lot from day to day, week to week? It’s been a busy semester and the flow of our homeschool has changed quite a bit. That’s not really surprising, though is it? We’re always adapting and changing things up in our homeschools. One of the joys and benefits of homeschooling is flexibility. We have the ability to go on tangents, dive deep, reschedule things, go faster...
Homeschool Den / Science: Biology Unit / Science: Taxonomy Scientific Classification
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 7, 2017 · Last modified March 23, 2023
What is taxonomy and why do we need to study it?! Taxonomy is the science of classification. Our biosphere supports more than 7 million known species and probably 4 or 5 million more unknown species! Taxonomists work on organizing the vast quantity of species. They are continually updating the classifications to keep up with new research and new discoveries. What is in the Scientific Classification and Taxonomy Packet? Scientific Classification...
Freebies / Holiday: Christmas Activities / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published December 1, 2017 · Last modified December 5, 2021
Can you believe December has arrived?! Today I want to highlight some of the free Christmas and Holiday Freebies we have tucked away on the blog. There are all kinds of Christmas math worksheets from PreK games and addition/subtraction worksheets to multiplication, division, factoring and beyond! Plus, you’ll find a spelling game (Long I sounds), free music games, and foreign language sheets to practice learning holiday words in Spanish or...
Science: Biology Unit / Science: Taxonomy Scientific Classification / Science: Vertebrates - Invertebrates
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 29, 2017 · Last modified July 25, 2021
I realized that I never wrote up a summary of what we did at our last Science Club meeting! We had such an amazing experience doing this club… the kids all became good friends and if you are contemplating putting a science club together, I *highly* recommend it! My kids really looked forward to our Friday afternoons and I think everyone learned a lot along the way. If you’re just...
Hi Everyone, Today I want to share the floor with Sra. Morato. Her online classes include elementary Spanish (for Kindergarten through Grade 6), Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 (36-week classes). This past year I have gotten to know her well and she is actually now teaching my girls Spanish (via video lessons and face-to-face meetings)! Let me share the story of how that happened!! It’s a funny story, one day while...
History: Native American Indians Unit / Homeschool Den
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 15, 2017 · Last modified September 19, 2023
This time of year, many people study Native Americans and/or the history of the colonies. We have a lot of free resources on the blog that I thought I would highlight again. I also thought I would include some of the books and resources we used along the way. We’ve covered the history and culture of different Native American tribes in different years, so you’ll find that the first resources...
Homeschool Den / Science / Science Experiments
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 8, 2017 · Last modified July 25, 2021
In Week 6 of our Science Club, we reviewed what we had learned about vibrations. Then we went on to talk about the different types of Body Waves (those waves within the Earth) and Surface Waves (those that move along the surface of the earth). We went over what they were and how they move. Then did some hands-on activities to help explain why some waves move faster than others....
Homeschool Den / Homeschool Encouragement / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Homeschool: Random Thoughts
by Liesl - Homeschool Den · Published November 1, 2017 · Last modified August 29, 2018
Do you have what it takes to homeschool? Of course you do, but let me tell you a little story! There is a shadowy figure that lurks outside of our homeschools. At the beginning of the year, this figure is so distant, we don’t realize it’s there. But just about this time of year, it starts to make an appearance. Sometimes it just pokes its head around the corner. Sometimes...
Do you believe education can be exciting, inspiring, and full of joy? We do too!
I love the quote by William Butler Yeats, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." It's about getting the kids involved, engaged, and fired up about learning (while juggling the rest of life too!)
A bit about me: I have my Master's from Brown University. I have more than 20 years of teaching experience. I was a high school teacher for many years both in the U.S. and internationally and also taught for the University of Maryland before leaving to homeschool my 3 wonderful kids.
To read more about us CLICK HERE.
Click on the image to find out more about the units and packets we have available.
This post has links to dozens of posts and resources both for new and veteran homeschoolers for everything from finding homeschool curriculum to general homeschool advice and encouragement.
Click on the image above to see the History Units we covered in our homeschool.
What science topics could I teach my 5-7 year old - Homeschool Science Curriculum
Click on the image above to see the Science Units we covered in our homeschool from elementary through middle school (and beyond!).
A list of the books we've used most in history, science, math, language arts, etc.
Click the image to check out our packets on Earth Science, Rocks and Minerals, the Atmosphere, Weather, Energy and More!
Units are also sold separately.
This is one of our most popular units. It covers the Layers of the Earth, Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, Volcanoes and More! It is included in the Earth Science Bundle (see the picture/link above).
Click the image to see our Biology Units on Animal and Plant Cells; the Biology Unit on Biomes, Food Chains, Symbiosis; Scientific Classification & Taxonomy (Domain/Kingdom/Phylum/Class, etc.); Botany - Plant Kingdom and Oceans and Oceanography.
Click on the image to see our Animal Bundle - including the Animal Unit, Life Cycles, the Rainforest, Winter (Polar Animals) & Hibernation, Chameleons, Wolves, Cicadas and more!
The Human Body Systems, Skeletal, Digestive, Circulatory, Muscular, Nervous, Endocrine Systems and More (with lots of hands-on activity ideas)! We usually study a different body system each year.
Click on the image to see our units on the States of matter, Properties of Matter, Electricity & Circuits, and the Chemistry Unit (Get to know the Periodic Table in a fun way!)
This is a free checklist I put together of the various science units I hope to cover in the elementary and middle school years.
Do your kids know the 4 largest countries? Which countries have the most people? The longest river? This packet covers basic world and U.S. facts and also covers geographic features and land forms.
Click on the image to check out our 100-page unit on World War I.
We have used AAS for 6 years! AAS is an affiliate link.
Dozens of posts about how to create a homeschool writing workshop.
Click on the image to check out all of our fun K-2 Math Packets.
This is one of the best values we have... more than 20 PDFs with games, activities and worksheets to learn/practice the multiplication facts ($7.00).
Click on the image to discover some of the pages, posts and homeschool resources within our blog that might be the most useful for you including a long list of our freebies!
Click on the image to check out our 100+page Rocks and Minerals Unit.
This is a fun, hands-on unit for early elementary students!
How the body is organized from cells to tissues... organs to body systems
Click on the image to check out some of the Spanish worksheet bundles we have available!
Click on the image above to check out our German worksheets.
Click on the image to find out more about our units and packets.
